Beopjusa in Fall

October 27, 2013. Beopjusa, Boeun, Korea.

Beopjusa's huge standing Buddha.

After hiking Songnisan (previous post), I visited this temple, called Beopjusa (법주사), which is a 10-minute walk past the Songnisan park entrance. I arrived just after sunset and didn't have a lot of time since the park was closing soon, so I decided to head back for sunrise the next morning. I woke up at 6am, arrived at the temple around 6:30, 15 minutes or so before sunrise, and stayed for about an hour and a half, taking photos and watching the sun slowly light its way through the temple complex.

First view through the main gate (left). They are renovating a colossal pagoda-style building behind this one.
The customary water basin (right). These two photos were taken just after sunset.

A dash of color.

There are more monks than visitors this early in the morning.

I love these colors.

The main temple building.

Songnisan in Fall

October 26, 2013. Songnisan National Park, Korea.

Iljumun (일주문), the entrance gate to Beopjusa and the hiking trails leading to Songnisan's peaks

This past weekend, I decided to go hiking and check out the fall colors in Korea. My mountain of choice was Songnisan, which I've been to once before. I started hiking around noon on Saturday, reached Munjangdae Peak around 2:30, and left Songnisan National Park a little after sunset. The hike itself only took around 4 and a half or five hours, but I took my time taking photos, hung out on the peak eating and reading, and spent a while roaming Beopjusa Temple after I descended (photos from the temple will be my next post).



Fall colors on the way to Munjangdae

At 1054 meters (around 3,458 feet), Munjangdae is actually the second-highest peak, but it's only three meters short of tying the highest peak and has a ridiculous view. It was a little hazy as it hasn't rained in a while, but totally worth the time and sore legs.

After yet another set of stairs, you arrive where all of the people are in this photo. From there, it's a short walk/climb to the peak.

You have a 360 degree view from Munjangdae Peak.

Buses from the Cheongju bus terminal take about and hour and 45 minutes to get to the Songnisan Terminal, and it costs ₩8,600. Getting into the park costs 4,000 won (around 4 dollars) and it's open from around 5am to sunset. This is a pretty popular area, so the best time to go would be a weekday.

Bulguksa Visit

October 20, 2013, Gyeongju, South Korea.

Spent my Sunday afternoon with a group of 12 or so Fulbright renewees. It was the free day of conference, so we decided to rent bikes ($8 for four hours) and ride over to Bulguksa, which is one of the more famous temples in Korea (judging from the number of pictures plastered all over the country). Didn't get as much time as I would have liked, so I definitely plan on going back. Hopefully before fall turns to winter...

My first soccer match!

October 15, 2013. Cheonan, South Korea.

Went to the Korea-Mali match this past Tuesday with four friends. Three of us showed up 2 hours early to get tickets...which were all sold out. So we wound up buying tickets from some old ajusshi (old, grouchy Korean man) scalpers, which turned out much better than we thought it was going to. The seats were first come, first serve, so we got pretty decent seats since we showed up early. Unfortunately, the weather is starting to get much colder and Neal Teacher was only wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. So I wound up cowering behind a friend's umbrella/windshield until everyone else showed up with pizza and chicken.

I've never been too in to soccer, but the game was really really great. Everyone went crazy every time the Korea team got close to the Mali goal and it was a lot of fun being able to be in the middle of all that. I might just go to more of these...

Korea vs. Mali in Cheonan

Gagweon Temple

October 3, 2013. Cheonan, South Korea. 

I went to Gagweon Temple with Kaley around sunset. This Buddha is the largest sitting Buddha statue in Korea, and it’s in a really beautiful place.

I will begin posting photos here, and I'm going to try and update 4 times a week.

Gagweon Temple's Sitting Buddha